The Field

Nurses help individuals, families, and groups to promote, maintain, or restore optimal health within the context of their environments. Nursing practice requires substantial specialized knowledge of nursing and related scientific, behavioral, and humanistic disciplines. Nursing also involves the development and implementation of strategies of care to accomplish defined goals and the evaluation of responses to care and treatment. Nursing includes the performance of services that promote and support optimal functioning across the life span, collaboration with other members of the health team, health counseling and teaching, the provision of comfort measures, teaching and supervising others, and participation in research contributing to the expansion of nursing knowledge.

The many areas of nursing include community health nursing, parent-child nursing, medical-surgical nursing, rehabilitation nursing, and mental health nursing. As patient care has become more complex and nurses’ responsibilities have expanded, a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Nursing is essential for today’s professional nurse.

There are three undergraduate tracks in the College of Nursing. The four-year undergraduate curriculum is designed for entering freshmen. Students are admitted directly into the Nursing major for each fall starting date and are notified of their acceptance by the university’s Undergraduate Admissions office. No transfer students are admitted. A second means to pursue undergraduate study in the College of Nursing is through the Accelerated track for students who hold a baccalaureate in a field other than nursing. The third track, the RN to BS track, is for students who are already registered nurses (RN) but lack a baccalaureate degree. See www.umass.edu/nursing for complete program descriptions, application, and entrance dates for each of these tracks.

All four-year students may apply to the Commonwealth Honors College curriculum. For details on this department's honors standards, contact the department's Honors Program Director or see www.honors.umass.edu/departmentalhonors.

The requirements of the programs are described in detail in the Nursing major section elsewhere in this Guide and on the Nursing website, www.umass.edu/nursing. Program changes are posted on the Nursing website.